I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.
John Masefield, Sea Fever 1902
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Why does water turn white when going over a waterfall? My 8 year old asked me and I was at a loss to explain.
When water goes over a waterfall, the stream or flow of the water as a body breaks up because of all the mixing with the air.
This creates little spherical or globules of wobbling water balls of varying sizes in very large numbers!
When light enters them they all act like little prisms and break light apart and scatter them in weird and random directions because of their wobbling! Imagine a rotating diamond in sunlight (try to imagine thousands of them as well)!
What you see standing far away is this broken apart light mixing with all other broken apart light beams from this chaotic flight towards mother Earth! This makes the flow to appear white.
https://www.quora.com/What-causes-the-water-to-turn-into-mist-in-high-waterfalls-like-the-Angel-falls-Is-it-just-the-height-or-other-factors-included
The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) often receives complaints about foam on a river or lake. This foam can be naturally occurring foam or foam formed because of environmental pollution. There are many things that can be introduced into a lake or stream that may cause foam to form.
Organic compounds from decomposing plants in the lake/river reach the water's surface, where wind and wave action push them to the shore. The concentration, or build up, of the organic compounds changes the physical nature of the water, making it easier for foam to form.
Turbulence and wave action at the beach pushes air into the water with organic compounds, which forms the bubbles in foam. Currents and boats also mix air with the organic compounds in the water to produce naturally occurring foam. Foam can appear year-round on lakes and streams as long as there is open water.
Scientists are still studying why and how PFAS foam appears in some lakes and streams and not in others.
https://www.michigan.gov/pfasresponse/faq/categories/pfas-foam-on-lakes-and-streams
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Descendant of:
WATERTexts with this theme:
- Gesang der Geister über den Wassern, D 484, D 538, D 705, D 714 (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)
- Am Strome, D 539 (Johann Baptist Mayrhofer)
- O Quell, was strömst du rasch und wild, D 874 (Ernst Konrad Friedrich Schulze)